For the first time since its 2020 debut, a notable South End restaurant and Renato’s sibling has closed for the summer in Palm Beach.
Acqua Café, 2875 S. Ocean Blvd., plans to reopen in early November to once again serve its Mediterranean “coastal cuisine” and cocktails in the dining room, bar and high-ceilinged climate-controlled patio.
uring the summer closure, “we’ll refresh the interior and hopefully add a few new touches we’ve wanted to do,” managing partner/co-owner Jose-Luis Duran told the Palm Beach Daily News.
It’s likely 92-seat Acqua Café, which encompasses more than 2,000 square feet, will remain a seasonal restaurant open annually from November through Mother’s Day, Duran said.
That will allow for interior upgrades and menu experimentation in the slower-season summer, when many residents depart and spend months at their northern homes until cool weather sends them south again.
Duran said he and his team had considered summer closures in years past — after all, time was when all businesses in Palm Beach closed for the off-season — but decided against it.
It in part had to do with the fact that not long after Acqua Café debuted to acclaim in January of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and, after restaurants were forced to temporarily shutter, Acqua wanted to maintain a presence for locals as well as visitors escaping pandemic restrictions still in place elsewhere.
The shut its doors for the summer May 10. During the closure, Acqua Café’s staff members have shifted to interim positions at the restaurant’s siblings, including one at nearby Par 3 Golf Course.
Acqua Café is owned and operated by Palm Beach-based Al Fresco Hospitality Group.
The group owns Renato’s, 87 Via Mizner; Pizza al Fresco, 14 Via Mizner; Piccolo Mondo, a takeout spot behind Renato’s at 87 Via Mizner; Piccolo Gelato, 66 Via Mizner; and Al Fresco, 2345 S. Ocean Blvd., in the Par 3 Golf Course’s oceanfront Key West-style clubhouse.
“We’re so gratefully for the support we’ve been shown since we opened (six years ago),” Duran said. “It will be fun to welcome everyone back in the fall to Acqua Café.”
For more than 20 years, M.M. Cloutier has written about restaurants, wine, the hospitality industry and island history for the Palm Beach Daily News.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Acqua Café in Palm Beach has closed for upgrades. What to know
Reporting by M.M. Cloutier, Special to Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
